>> the unique part of this storm is unlike any storm i've seen in my 20 years in office. >> this is one of my times to use one of my favorite saying, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. get done what you need to get done. >> we're getting the 11:00 a.m. advisory on the storm. we expect a briefing this hour from new york city mayor michael bloomberg. the city that never sleeps is hunkered down. from lower manhattan the subway is closed and the stock exchange is closed as well. president obama canceling plans to attend a rally in florida with bill clinton and instead headed back to the white house to monitor the storm from the situation room. he canceled an event in green bay, wisconsin scheduled for tomorrow. >> the last thing the president and i want to do is campaign and get in the way of anything. the most important thing is people's safety and health and property being saved here.

>> the former president, the unofficial secretary of explaining stuff, took to the stage in the sunshine state solo. republican mitt romney will campaign today out of the storm's path in the battleground state of ohio yesterday offering these words for those in sandy's way. >> i think that right now some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to hit the coast, and our thoughts and prayers are with the people that find themselves in harm's way. >> what remains to be seen is how this october surprise will impact an election that is now just eight days away with early voting already under way. we want to get straight to the latest update, and for that nbc news meteorologist dillon drier joins me with a look. not much has changed? >> that's unfortunate. it is still a strong category 1 hurricane at this time, and even if it changes into something post-tropical as it makes its way towards the new jersey coastline, this is a strange hybrid between a once tropical

system, a hurricane right now, and then transforming and taking on more of the characteristics of a nor'easter. this makes this an unprecedented type of storm. it starts as a hurricane and developing into this nor'easter. right now we still see it south-southeast of new york city by more than 250 miles. look at the direction. it has official taken the turn to the north and northwest moving at 18 miles per hour. so we'll see this intensify and conditions get worse all across the mid-atlantic region. we will see this storm system produce a lot of coastal flooding here because of that storm surge. we made it through a high tide this morning, and we saw the flooding at the coastline. we see the next high tide at the peak of the storm later on this evening, anywhere between 8:00 in the mid-atlantic region up to midnight in the long island region. we see that coastal flooding be of concern, especially into parts of tonight. once that storm system does start to move in.

winds with this storm, we are already starting to notice them. as it gets closer, not only are the winds going to gust at times at the peak of the storm, but it's pushing all of the water onshore. that's why we are dealing with the potential for a storm surge that could be as high as 4 to 7, 8, 9 feet higher than the normal high tide. this is a lot of water to contend with. here we go monday night at 8:00. at that point it may or may not have transitioned into this post-tropical cyclone here. either way, it's just a title the at this point. this storm is so massive even hurricane-force winds are extends 175 miles out from the center of this storm. then as it makes its way onshore, it will start to weaken. then it doesn't go anywhere quickly. it sits over pennsylvania. it slowly moves into upstate new york, and that's why we will see inland flooding. the rivers and streams will overflow their banks as this whole storm system continues to

rain out over portions of the northeast. then as we go into early this weekend into next week, the rain will finally start to ease and we will see some improvements into early next week. then it's all about the cleanup with the power crews and the trees that topple over because of those strong, gusty winds that we are going to see. again, the peak of the storm in the mid-atlantic move inning later on tonight. >> thanks so much. we'll talk again shortly. some of the numbers to go over with you now associated with sandy. 60 million people in the northeast are being impacted by this. the storm is expected to reach 800 miles inland, that's from the coast to the great lakes. can you believe that? so far airlines have canceled almost 9,000 flights, and that number is dexpected to grow. check with your airlines. the ripple effect across the country is going to be felt. right now we want to check in with ron allen. he's located in point pleasant beach along the new jersey shore. how have the winds changed that? the last time i heard you

reporting it was 50 miles per hour. what are we seeing now? >> reporter: they're gusting, thomas. as each hour passes it gets worse. the rain is falls sideways. first an update on breaking news from south of here from off the coast of cape hatteras, north carolina where the coach guard is searching for two people missing off a ship that sank. 14 were rescued and 2 are still missing. the 14 are doing fine. it's an 180-foot tall ship. not sure what it was doing out in the seas. they are out in seas like this here. we've been watching the atlantic for the past few days out here in new jersey. it's churning the wave heights 10 to 12 feet above normal. i'm standing on a dune about maybe 30 yards wide, and this dune is about 10 feet tall. this dune is all that separates the ocean from the foun in front of me. that's why all the towns along the engineer engineer slee shore, about 175 miles most had

been evacuated. on the other side of the barrier ice lands, some of which are 300 or 400 yards, the bay smeegt the ocean. meeting the sea, and that's why there's inland flooding in the town now. they're heavy flooding in town. we saw the police going through in tall trucks trying to make sure everybody is out of here. the town is pretty deserted, and the conditions are worsening. we're keeping a close eye on the ocean. the water is -- continues to rise. it's been even lapping up in some areas above this front part of the dune where we're standing. again, it's not that severe just now. i understand from my colleagues at the weather channel, mike sidl siedel, the wind conditions will double here late tonight when it comes onshore. we are feeling the effects of it now. we've been feeling this all morning.

it's getting worse, and again, thomas, most people are evacuated from this area. they've closed off entrance to some parts of southern new jersey along the barrier islands to nmake sure no people come hee and that again everyone who wants to get out of here is gone. it's a big worry. people stay behind and realize a couple days later they should have gone. thomas. >> ron allen reporting for you from point pleasant beach in new jersey. thanks so much. a lot of firsts are coming along with this storm in the fact na certain states see consequences and somes of a hurricane. northern states will feel consequences and symptoms of a nor'easter with snow. certainly there are political firsts that are being felt along with hurricane sandy as well. what is it going to do to early volting and people getting out to vote next week, especially if we deal with power outages? i'll bring in our political power panel and talk more about this. doug authorize nell and erin mcpike, reporter for real clear

politics. erin, i want to start with you. as we talk about what's going on on the campaign trails as well as sandy spinning in the atlantic, according to chuck todd virginia and new hampshire may not see the two candidates until election day because the president may have so much going on in washington right now to oversee this storm. mitt romney is focusing his campaign in ohio. with the president having to focus his time on this, erin sdshgs he have a messaging advantage that he gets to be the president in this situation? what do you stay? >> he absolutely might. he can't get out to swing states today, tomorrow, and maybe not for the rest of the week if the devastation is very bad. he's going to be having bill clinton pinch-hit for him in many of the swing states throughout the week, and that may help them double-down a little bit with bill clinton down on the trail and president obama in washington. remember, mitt romney gets to shuttle back and forth between ohio and wisconsin, which are the two most important states. if president obama can hold on

to nevada, wisconsin and ohio, he still wins with 271 electoral votes. so with mitt romney out on the trail, that is in part a disadvantage for president obama, but it's too hard to say right now. >> hogan, governor romney is continuing that cam taken to go forward in states not impacted by hurricane sandy. it was really interesting, joe scarborough and his observations this morning he made on "morning joe." take a listen. >> this was mitt romney's best weekend, and it stops. the momentum stops. you don't know how it freezes, but it's a new dynamic into the race and changes everything with with a week to go. >> let's talk about this. not only could this stall romney's momentum, but it also brings up something that mitt romney was forceful about during the primary debates. he sad voe indicated shutting down team na and letting states handle disaster relief. watching what's taking place with sandy, know we have 12 different states that declared states of emergency and also the district, washington, d.c., does

this pose a problem for mitt romney if he gets questioned on his belief about fema and tries to go to some places to look presidential post-sandy, is that an issue for him? >> that's a great point, thomas, and joe was right. i'm not sure what this hurricane does, but it does something. we all would agree it does something. it might be post-election when we actually find out the full impact. look, obviously the president has an inherited advantage in the sense he looked like the president at these places. mitt romney has a problem looking presidential as he visits the damaged area, but he has the advantage of going sxwak forth to some of these swing states and continuing to hammer on the campaign trail. both candidates, regardless of where they are and what they're talking about, have to temper some of the language and fiery rhetoric they throw at their opponents. will this have an impact on the race? absolutely. i don't think we know quite what it is yet. honestly, the republicans are so

focused on turnout as are the democrats, that's what's going to change really the impact more this election, is the groups of people out there hitting the doors, making people get out and vote. the get out the vote effort is everything at in the point, because right now the ads are saturated and we have this hurricane in place. getting out the vote is what's key. >> you talk about the impact. we know specifically the impact in maryland for today, that the governor canceled early voting. i had a chance to speak to him in our special primetime coverage last night about what this means and whether or not they make up that day. they're going to try but it depends on what happens within the state with sandy as they look at it. still early voting is so strategic to the campaign. how impacted is the early vote because this is a lumbering and slow-moving storm? >> right. i think the obama campaign feels good about their early vote operations across the country,

but it's hard to say. to hogan's point, one of the things that may happen here and both campaigns have to deal with it, it disrupts voter contact. so the folks that go door to door, the folks making phone calls, that might be harder if lines go down. the other thing is polling. when these campaigns are looking at decisions over the next week, where to spend their resources, in a state like virginia or new hampshire or ohio, it may be hard to poll folks during the course of this week. in a sense you're operating in the dark. but i think overall the obama campaign feels good about where they are from an early vote standpoint. >> aaccoccording to politico th president has retain the lead. on the flipside we saw a slate of mixed state polls that took place over the weekend. 49/49, complete tie right there. the virginia "washington post" poll has obama hanging onto the

four-point lead and philadelphia enquirer, 49/42. two different polls here. minnesota is truly a 50/50 race right now. is that going to impact everything like doug is saying? they can't get accurate figures to know where they're up or down? >> it may. even though one of the super-pacs supporting romney is now advertising in pennsylvania trying to expand the map a little bit, we're not going to likely see mitt romney go to places like minnesota or pennsylvania. they're really going to double-down on about seven swing states, and he's right that we won't be able to see what's going to happen over the next week because the polling is going to be fairly messed up. so we're just going to have to wait and see, thomas. i think the obama campaign feels that they are ahead in the states that motor like ohio and wisconsin and nevada. so as far as it's concerned right now, mitt romney has to go to those states and hang out there until election day.

>> iowa came out over the weekend, "the des moines register" it to endorse mitt romney. they haven't endorsed aa republican for president since nixon 40 years ago. are you surprised? >> a little bit just because of the record of them supporting democrats. look, it's all about turnout at in the point. i'm not sure where this falls down. republicans tout their efforts to get out of the vote and point to these things like "the des moines register" endorsement. look, the fact is we have to get out and vote, and the efforts of the republicans while they're touting them being better than 2008, 2008 isn't the standard. it's 2012 against this obama machine and not 2008. right now i'm intently paying attention to what's going on with the get out of the vote effort in both camps. >> my thanks to our power ponl panl this morning. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> so the president is on his way back to the white house. yet, the fight for florida continues with a high profile stand-in. former president bill clinton took the stage in orlando about

an hour ago. coming up joe lock art will join me to talk about the re-election efforts down south. the question to you today is about hurricane sandy. whose campaign stands to be stalled the most by this storm? tweet me or find me on facebook. we're back after this. hungry for the best? it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. it's eb.

welcome back, everyone. a live peek of what's taking place oud of new york city right now. a look at statue of liberty in the distance. the water is is churned up at this hour. we'll get a live report in a few minutes. eight days before the election, and this hurricane is making a mess of both campaign schedules. look at some of these battleground state headlines. in virginia's richmond times dispatch, here comes sandy.

because of that both campaigns have canceled rallies in the old dominion. bob mcdonald said he'll ask the state to extend absentee voting hours to make up for time. union leader, storm forces romneys, biden to cancel visits. the storm has forced officials to reschedule the granite state debate for the first congressional district for next friday. in florida a race to the finish, so says the daytona beach news junl as local volunteers move into high gear. team romney is feeling excited in florida while team obama is trying to finish with a dramatic push. that big push was supposed to include a joint appearance with president clinton, but sandy rained on that parade. president obama is now back squarely in washington to deal with this storm leechl leaaving former president with the stage all to himself. >> as the president said,

governor, you were in bain capital. if i brought a deal to you and said i have a great idea for a business with jobs like crazy, and you said where's your budget? i'd say, see me on that in a year or two, you'd run me out of our office. how can you expect us to vote for you for president. you won't give us the budget when you say it's the biggest problem in the country. vote for the man with the plan. vote for barack obama. >> let's bring in joe lockhart, former white house press secretary under clinton and also a cnbc contributor. the president is in a tough spot right now trying to run a country, manage a natural disaster while also running for re-election. what are the benefits and the pitfalls of trying to strike such a balance, especially in such a close race with little time left? >> well, i mean, i think it does underline that there is only one president, and that is clearly an advantage. i think one of the things that happened in this race with the president's poor performance in the first debate is it elevated

mitt romney and the country saw them as, you know, almost equals. i think what's going on here is kind of underlines the idea that we had one president. he's focused on his job. it does have some risk with it. he will be responsible and have to take sfont for fema and all the work they do. i think the biggest advantage, though, is these are times, you know, people are skeptical of government. people are always talking about cutting the size of government and spending, but these are times that people understand the real value of government, the federal government in coordinating and funding these efforts. the republicans have a problem here because they argue constantly. mitt romney said we should privatize fema or at least get rid of it and put it back to the states. that's a terrible argument to be defending this week. >> that was something brought up during the primary debates. joe, the former president is going to campaign for president obama later today in youngstown,

ohio. the latest cnnle poll gives the president a four-point lead over governor romney. the president is struggling with white voters. 41% among white men. let me play what senator jim webb said to chuck todd on this issue. take a listen. >> how in the name of the lord can the democratic party, the party of andrew jackson, only be getting 28 periods of time of the white male working class vote? from my perspective it's because of the interest group politics in the democratic party, that particular cultural group doesn't believe the democrats like that. >> are some white voters turned off by the democratic party? if so, where does the popular clinton factor come in? >> the president is there and will be in ohio for a reason. the president can bring into focus the idea that with the right economic policies and if you stick with it, as we did in 1995 and 1996, prosperity comes

along. the real key numbers in ohio are look at the unemployment rate when the president came into office and where it is now. it's down i think nearly 50%. the auto bailout, some of the president's investments in manufacturing have really paid off in ohio, frankly, at the end of the day we can talk back and forth about different demographics. the president needs more than 50% of the vote there and he's well on his way to doing that. >> former white house press secretary joe lockhart, now a cnbc contributor. great to have you on this morning. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> want to get you back to hurricane sandy. some updates for you. this superstorm that has much of the east coast literally on edge. we're learning that president obama will go into the briefing room at 12:45 p.m. eastern time. that news just coming out of the white house. one of the nation's busiest commuter railway stations in the country is a ghost town. it's been closed with commuter railroads shut down aalong with amtrak and new york city's

transit system. we'll check in with jim cantore from lower manhattan where there have been evacuations and serious flooding expected. how are things looking down there, jim? >> reporter: well, you know, it's kind of interesting. as you look back at the hudson here, we've got water that is at 3.1 feet. that's our storm surge. during irene it was 4.4. we expect to double what we had in irene. that's the problem. that's what kicked in yesterday and that's why the mandatory evacuation order was kicked in. the storm is deep in low pressure, and we expect the wind field to push this water up through long island sound and just to give you an example. you can see what's going on here in terms of how high water is. it's below the sea wall, but it's probably going to be about a good third of the way up this pole. that brings it all the way back into the battery and probably into lower parts of manhattan as well. parts of wall street will probably flood, so we anticipate this water to be much higher.

the only difference in it could be the fact that it's going to come up gradually as opposed to quick like with the storm surge. not gradual in like 20 minutes but maybe over an hour or so we see that water coming up and coming up. we see the tunnels here shut down. the brooklyn tunnels now shout done, the holland tunnel is closing at 2:00 this afternoon. that's an order from the governor. when you see things like that occurring, that's certainly is cause for worry because we're worried about water getting into some of those tunnels and eventually the subway system. with this storm it's not inconceivable to see the runways at laguardia underwater in this storm. >> reporting for us in battery park. just to reiterate the point jim was pointing out from the governor's press conference a short time ago saying the tunnels would be shut down. the holland tunnel and the brooklyn battery tunnel beginning at 2:00 p.m. shutting

down because of the flooding concerns of hurricane sandy. how big a hurricane is this storm? we're talking about the megastorm all morning, but look at this view from space shows us how massive this storm is. residents all along the east coast are facing this, especially above south carolina. this should all be taken very seriously. you can track this storm by checking out weather.com. you can get up-to-date information on the path and strength. if you lose power and still have the internet, the weather channel is streaming live on weather.com. you can always be checked in. we're back after this. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

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right for you we're waiting for a briefing from michael bloomberg. new york as we told you about has shut down the mass transit system including subways and buses and all city schools are closed. now, we've seen water coming ashore in lower manhattan. tens of thousands have been ordered to evacuated that area. then other low-lying areas around the city. coastal communities are also affected, however, our nbc station in new york talked with a surfer in queens who is ignoring these orders, although he did decide not to go into the water. take a listen. sorry. we don't have that. let's check maria shav comp powe. we see some people on the beach out there. >> reporter: there are people there. this area and other low-lying areas of long island are under mandatory evacuation orders. people do choose to ignore that. i want to show you the waves out

here, because we've been out here all morning since 5:00 this morning. they have gotten consistently bigger and stronger, and this is really the main concern here, is the storm surge. unlike with other storms like hurricane irene for example where heavy rains was a big concern, with this storm they're concerned about the storm surge, which the national hurricane center classifies as a life-threatening storm surge. in this part of long island that could reach up to 11 feet. the concern is really for extensive record-setting flooding due to that. another concern here is how bad it will get during high tide, because this evening when we're in high tide, this storm will still be going strong. people here are very concerned thaez two things together could lead to very extensive, widespread flooding. we're seeing some flooding in long island. on fire island they see 18 inches at this point, and we see other points of flooding throughout. officials say they expect it to get much worse this evening when

the tide rises. the other concern here is power outages. the long island power authority says right now they have about 19,000 customers without power, but the problem is they could be without power for a while. they say it could take 7 to 10 days to get the power back on. those are the two major concerns here, flooding and power outages. thomas. >> interesting enough, it's the high tide coinciding with landfall and the full moon we experienced tonight that all adds up to make it that bigger of a concern. mara is reporting from long beach. thank you so much. once again, more now from what we're learning about the president and his schedule in a lot of sandy. he will appear in the white house briefing room at 12:45 p.m. to update americans on this hurricane and efforts being made to make sure that millions along the coastal communities of the east coast are safe. new york city, though, is on virtual lockdown this morning. subways have been closed, buses shut down. the new york city stock exchange is shuttered. over 3100 people at the city's 76 emergency storm shelters

right now and adding. we're going live to a briefing from the new york city mayor michael bloomberg any minute from now. stay with us. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership.

welcome back. they continue to add and sub strakt the electoral math in the last days of the campaign. this race is as tight as it gets. politico and george washington university showing the president regaining the lead ahead by one point. ohio newspaper poll shows the candidates are ties, and in virginia a critical state for romney the president is ahead. joining me from washington is nbc deputy political editor dominico. as we look at the numbers crunching them, all these new polls, how do they impact the big picture, and who has the best path to 270? >> when you talk about these new pols out, in particular let's look at ohio.

if mitt romney were to win ohio and we go inside the battlegrounds, it makes president obama's path much more difficult. if you give mitt romney ohio and florida and give him virginia, now you see mitt romney's already at 266 even if you were to get new hampshire, wisconsin, he's still not quite there. he needs to win both of these in order to get to 270, which would put him right over 272. romney needs just one of those. if we were to take this out and put colorado and iowa back in, you have virginia. there's a poll out showing president obama up four there. that's 270, even if you were to give romney iowa and colorado, he's at 268. not quite enough, and that's as tight as it gets, thomas. >> thanks so much. i will talk more with you, but i found out we're cutting to mayor michael bloomberg giving an update to hurricane preparedness for hurricane sandy. >> there's no chance the mass

transit will be back in time to serve people. we're worried about cleanup, even though the storm should aabate dramatic alally into tuesday. sandy will make landfall south of atlantic city this evening, and that keeps new york city well within the damage zone of the storm. as of now we're under a coastal flood warning from now through 3:00 p.m. on tuesday. a high wind warning through 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. this is a massive storm. hurricane-force winds extend some 175 miles in every direction of this center. the storm may strengthen as it meets the cold front approaching from the northwest, and that is when it changes from a tropical storm to a nor'easter, who has very big implications for those areas to the west of us and to the north of us. as we have emphasized all along, the greatest danger posed by sandy is the coastal storm surge it will produce. we've already had as much

flooding for example along the fdr, which is fundamental closed at the moment, as we did in hurricane irene. now, when we close a road, we close it when the water comes up and if the water recedes, for example, as you go from high tide to low tide, we would re-open that. at any moment any of these roads, if it becomes unsafe, we close it. we have lots of people watching. the flooding that could occur later today is why we ordered our evacuation from zone a areas yesterday. last night there was a high tide and tonight a bigger one and tomorrow another one. water levels along our coast and waterways have begun rising and are expected to remain at higher than normal levels for the thex 24 hours. the surge will be roughly at 8:00 tonight, 8:15, plus or minus a couple of hours. remember, if you're in the south bronx, the surge that you're

getting is a surge that entered long island sound and it takes about four hours to get town here. so the surge you would expect there is much later than the surge that you'd experience if the water is coming up the east river and the hudson river. there has been some flooding already in the battery as well as the fdr and some of the rockaways. we expect surge levels of 6 to 11 feet. a surge of 9 to 10 feet is possible aalong coney island and the rockaways and a surge of 11 to 12 feet may occur at the better monday evening. maximum surge impact in these areas is expected to be in some period plus or minus two hours around 8:15, so 6:00 to 10:30. the peak surge will hit areas along the long island sound between 10:00 and 2:00 a.m., four hours later. now if you live on a coastline, you have to add to that breaking waves. waves of 15 to 20 feet along the

ocean-facing shoreline will result in severe beach erosion, but aulz it drived water right over the road and inland more. because of the heavy rains that we do expect, which will come in later tonight after the first we'll see higher winds and the surge and more rain. tomorrow morning we expect to be very wet. a high wind warning is now in effect. the heaviest winds will occur this afternoon and evening. sustained winds of 40 to 55 miles per hour with gusts of 70 to 80 are what's forecasted at the moment. motorists should experience extreme caution. we will monitor conditions on the bridges. govern governor cuomoo has anaunsed the tunnels will be closed to traffic in the westbound lanes of the gulgtss bridge. they will have been closed and more bridge and tunnel closings throughout the city are very

possible. i'm having a mental block. yesterday i ordered an evacuation of residents and businesses in the area designated as zone a in our coastal flood plan, so let me reiterate what i said yesterday for everybody's safety. it's also for the safety of the first responders who might have to rescue people who remain in zone a and whose own lives could be put at risk because of that. if you're still in zone a and can find a way to leave, leave immediately. >> mayor bloomberg talking about the conditions he's facing as mayor of new york city and evacuations that are taking place in zone a. those evacuations have taken place since last night. as you see right there this shot is of battery park the storm surge is in zone a. last year we saw storm surge from hurricane irene, but they predict this to be a lot worse with hurricane sandy. also the fact that mayor bloomberg is talking about the fact that coastal flooding

warnings in effect until 3:00 p.m. fotomorrow and wind warnin until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night. president obama will be in the briefly reef room at 12:45 p.m. we'll cover that live right here on msnbc. one thing we mentioned earlier in this newscast is mitt romney has picked up a key endorsement from the "the des moines regis." they say he as a strong record of aachievement in the private and public sectors. romney has made the rebuilding the economy his number one campaign priority, and rightly so. this marks the very first time the paper has endorsed a republican since richard nixon. that was in 1972. joining me now is rick green of "the des moines register." it's great to have you with me. your paper did endorse mitt romney over the weekend. as i read from your blog and other reasons why that happened, you said the transparency was key to that selection. romney recently appeared in ohio

claiming that jeep was moving production to china and has doubled-down with a new ad. i want to show everybody what that new ad looks like. >> obama took gm and chrysler into bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italians building jeeps in china. >> chrysler issued a statement last week saying jeep has intention of shifting production of jeep models out of the north america to china. this president said this election is about trust. we have chrysler saying that romney was flat-out wrong, but he's still pushing this issue. do you believe that governor romney for the readers of "the register" is the candidate that should be trusted? >> it's great to be with you today. speaking as the editor and also as a member of the editorial, i want to preface that this was a five-member editorial board that sfent an awful lot of time looking at the candidates, the campaigns, the issues and platforms and visions and spent a lot of time being deliberative

and thoughtful in our decision as it relates to the endorsement. at end of the day what we've heard repeatedly, thomas, for several, several months, through this whole cycle is the importance of the economic recovery in iowa. that's what our readers and voters in iowa are most concerned about. after all this thoughtful deliberation, it was at the end of the day when we come down with governor romney's vision for economic recovery and i sense that he's got a better plan and a broader vision to make things happen. i can't speak directly to jeep, and i'm not going to share any personal comments about who should be trusted. i can tell you that this editorial board took it's responsibility incredibly serious. there was a lot of deliberation and vigorous debate shgs as there should be. at the end of the day governor romney won our endorsement. >> one thing that i was reading at the end of the day that laura haulings worth, the buck stops with her on who the endorsement comes from, whether or not the editorial board agrees with that

or not? >> i'm not going to dissect different positions and how things unfold. we've written several times how it's a thoughtful process. it's a five-member board and obviously laura's voice was heard in it and mine. at the end of the day, it was the board's decision to support romney and we're moving forward with it. >> as you point out for many americans, the economy is the number one issue. i know that when you point out, it went into the board's decision about the economy, the budget, the unemployment numbers right now. as we look at the state of unemployment in iowa right now, the rate stands at 5.2%, one of the lowest in the country. with those numbers like those, why not support a second term for the president? what specifically was if in mitt romney's economic outlook that the paper felt so strongly about? >> you know, thomas, we looked at it in a couple different ways. both from the fact that for a lot of different reasons there seems to be partisan gridlock in

washington. that's not a surprise to you. it's not something that we've not heard on the campaign trail. both candidates have acknowledged it. the idea at the end of this whole process with the editorial board that there were four more years of an obama administration would change any of that and particularly momentum on the economic front was just something that this board just couldn't see. governor romney by virtue of his experience and strong business acumen coming through the executive ranks of what he did in massachusetts, the board felt very strongly and confidently that he was the one who could best position the country for an economic revival and jump start the economy with with meaningful salaries and jobs. >> what's the immediate reaction of iowans to your paper's endorsement? >> you know, thomas, the great thing about being in iowa is we have incredibly smart readers and voters. this is the first republican endorsement we've made since 1972. we've got some of them right and

some wrong. there's some you wish you could take back, i'm sure. this isn't about "the register" or our endorsement. this is a state with enkridably thoughtful and very, very smart readers and voters who will listen to us and also more importantly sit around the kitchen table before they go out on election day or cast an early ballot which many have done and make the decision best for themselves and their families and for our state and country. >> rick green with "the des moines register," i appreciate you taking the time out for me this morning. thank you very much for your time. the winds are going to be a big factor as this system gets closer. look for the winds to increase. sustained winds of about 50 miles per hour, but expect gusts of over 70 miles per hour. >> hose one responding to a very much very active fire here in the town of freeport. a two-story home you're looking at as fire crews now actively work on putting out this blaze. >> wow, that last amazing scene

courtesy of the nbc station in new york, wnbc. power outages throughout the new york area and new jersey area as these conditions worsen. right now sandy is a cat 1 storm with 90-mile-per-hour winds. it's expected to head straight for the coastline very soon. it could slam ashore near atlantic city, new jersey. there's reports of major flooding right now in that city as well. bill karins joins us from lower manhattan with more. >> reporter: good morning. the drama begins to build here. we hit high tide at 8:00. the water was up and lapping over the edge here like with irene. now the water has receded about 4 feet. at 1:00 or 2:00 this afternoon, the water will start coming back up along with larger waves. at that the point we expect the high tide at 8:00 this evening twob two feet higher than earlier. to put that into perspective. this little par bell is two feet

taller than what we looked at with earlier today. if you take that at 2 feet high up through there, it's shallow throughout this entire region. there's sandbagged about three blocks inland. that's how serious of a threat the transit authority is calling this. this that will be the peak, the showdown here. it's almost like a tourist attraction, low tide, rain hasn't been that heavy in lower manhattan but later this evening as the winds pick up, we could haves gusts here about 60 miles per hour, that will be the high tide cycle and know how the subway system will manage. if we get it that bad here all our friends in long island, connecticut and coastal new jersey will be just as bad. you've seen the pictures in atlantic city, we're fearful of what this high tide is going to be tonight. >> bill karins from lower manhattan, thanks so much. coming up, barriers at the ballot, how the vote is being suppressed in certain key swing states. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up.

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we are closing in on america's decision day. sadly a lot of new fear and loathing monk minorities. they're still being targeted with messages designed to keep them from voting, that rages from suspicious phone calls to scary billboards. this removed from a low income neighborhood in cleveland, ohio. this phony letter sent to voters in florida on the fake letter head of a state election supervisor threatening if they didn't answer they could lose their right to both, has both campaigns on alert, each side fired up teams of lawyers to battle this bullying in states where the race is not only tight but under new voter i.d. laws. here to talk to me is lawrence noordin. good to have you here. as we talk about this why aren't lawmakers taking more responsibility about this type of intimidation? this type of fraud that is getting voters scared not to show up? >> yeah.

well, i just got something going on with my ear, but -- apologies, but they should be, obviously, and when -- in many instances, sending out misleading information on official letter head is illegal and in those cases it should be prosecuted. >> how come there aren't quicker ways to backtrack where this is originating from. >> unfortunately, it's difficult to tell where it's coming from but you pointed out to the billboards in ohio, and wisconsin, which were not only in some cases misleading but many took to be intimidating. we don't know who funded those billboards. very difficult to tell who caused it. what we can do as quick lu as possible is put pressure on groups publishing this information to take it down, which is what happened in ohio and wisconsin, and to put out

more pro voter messages. what we want is a fair election and everybody that wants to vote has to have access to the polls and vote. >> lawrence norton of nyu's center for justice thanks for being here. >> i'm going to see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 eastern. "now" with alex wagner comes up next. of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. why? because i'm gonna make the call to switch to a new medicare prescription drug plan. i want a plan that covers the medications i take.

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not the economy, not foreign policy, not even the unemployment rate, barometric pressure. it's monday october 29th, and this is "now." joining me today msnbc contributor ari melber of the nation, host of msnbc's "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" lawrence owe dodge live on set with us, cocreator of "the daily